from our currency and he won't take god out of his heart. but what kind of a heart does he have if he dismisses and derides half the population? i'll hazard is guess. he has the heart of a hypocrite. thanks so much for watching. chris matthews and "hardball" is next. romney wobbles. let's play "hardball." ♪ good evening. i'm chris matthews in washington. let me start tonight with this, mitt romney wobbler. day after day we've watched him go wobbly, massachusetts senator scott brown, linda mcmahon, virginia senate candidate george allen, and now nevada senator dean hower have all gone wobbly, refused to stand with, stand for the outed mitt romney, the one

who tells rich people that the rest of the country is a bunch of loafers, freeloaders, bums. well, last night a new wobbler showed up, mitt romney himself. racing like a desperate crazy man, he suddenly declared he's changed his mind on the whole 47% business. that he's now proud of being the grandfather of obama care, proud to say he's for same-sex couples having partner rights and no way he wants to run those 12 million immigrants out of the country. so how scared is this candidate that he's now turning tail on so much of what he's been standing for? is the man we caught behind the curtain suddenly afraid of the script he's been reading? is this the moment, the etch-a-sketch moment, we were warned was coming, the alloutmoment of moral melt down. this afternoon, this afternoon at the univision candidates forum president obama responded to romney's caught on tape comments where he wrote off 47% of the country. let's take a listen to the president. >> when you express an attitude that half the country considers itself victims, that somehow

they want to be dependent on government, my thinking is maybe you haven't gotten around a lot because i travel around the country all the time, and the american people are the hardest working people there are. are there people who abuse the system? yes. both at the bottom and at the top because there are a whole bunch of millionaires who aren't paying taxes at all either. >> wonder who he's talking about there. also today there were two more republican senate candidates who joined the bandwagon of wobblers today rejecting romney's language of the 47%. as i said, former -- governor running for senate linda lingle and in virginia george allen. they have joined senator scott brown and dean hower and linda mcmahon all leaving the ship. the business news was last night mitt romney himself seemed to join the wobblers when he distanced him from his previous

comments. >> first of all, this is a campaign about the 100%. over the last several years you have seen greater and greater divisiveness in this country. my campaign is about the 100% of america, an i'm concerned about them. i know i'm not going to get 100% of the vote and my campaign will focus on those people we think we can bring in to support me, but this is a campaign about helping people who need help. i have a record. i have demonstrated my capacity to help the 100%. >> who is this guy? you know, we saw the man behind the curtain down at boca raton. now at the univision, more diverse crowd of people, mainly minorities, he's acting like a different guy. why is mitt turning tail on everything he's been scripted to say for a couple years now? john heilemann? >> well, chris, there's a question about whether he's actually turning tail on those things or not. you know, there was a conference call the campaign did this afternoon in which they said, no, in fact, he still wants to dismantle obama care, wants to repeal it, totally against it, he was just trying to be funny last night. that he was making a joke.

that was his sense of humor on display. we've heard that from the campaign on some other occasions in the past like when he made a birther joke about president obama's birth certificate not that long ago. that was also said to have been an example of his sense of humor. i think he probably would do well if those are examples of him being funny, he should probably keep comedy out of his routine. it's kind of confusing. i think a lot of people assumed he would try to pivot to the middle. he's obviously proud of the massachusetts health care laud he passed. a lot of people thought this would be the mitt romney we'd see this fall. it's not clear to me today right now sitting here at 5:00 eastern what his stance is going to be on this question for real. the xab is more or less disowning his comments from yesterday which were comments in which he was kind of disowning his own comments from the past. i don't know what mitt romney we'll see two ours from now or 24 hours from now. they have to figure out a consistent message if they have a chance of winning this election. >> alex, before he got caught

chucking out the red meat to the rich people in boca raton, now he's taking parenthood, grandparenthood of obama care. he's saying we can let people be together, maybe we can't formalize it but we like the people of gay people getting together and living together, no problem with that and of course i wouldn't throw the 12 million people out. if he's talking like that when he's out there throwing the red meat to the ha. >>s in the campaign he wouldn't have gotten the nomination. >> this is a guy who stood on stage and didn't apologize to the fact he was referring to undocumented workers as illegals and turning off magnets. it was some of the most divisive comments we've heard. mitt romney has forfeited that. what you are seeing right now is a magnetic moral compass that

has no true north. this is like a conch shell. you pick it up and there is nothing there. i have no idea what -- >> we did that as kids in ocean city, new jersey. it wasn't just backing away from the 47% comments. he also seemed to go wobbly on issues ranging from health care as john heilemann just pointed out to gay marriage and immigration. here is what romney said about health care. take a listen. >> i have experience in health care reform. now and then the president says i'm the grandfather of obama care. i don't think he meant that as a compliment but i'll take it. this was during my primary. we thought it might not be helpful. >> let's get back to the whole question here of the way he did that 47% because it reminded me today, and i saw a piece of this before, back in the '64 campaign, john and alex, there was an ad by the democrats pointing out what senator barry goldwater was saying at the time, i'd like to cut off the eastern end of the united states, not 47%, but a big chunk of it. here is what barry goldwater said which is similar to what

romney said, let's get rid of the part of the country we don't like. >> in a saturday evening post article dated august 31st, 1963, barry goldwater said, sometimes i think this country would be better off if we could just saw off the eastern seaboard and let it float out to sea. can a man who makes statements like this be expected to serve all the people justly and fairly? >> well, looks like governor romney would like to saw off 47% of the country. john hilman, don't you like the voice of that old tv commercial? that's authoritative. >> totally awesome. look, i think that, you know, it's hard for us to criticize governor romney. last week we were saying, you know, it's terrible this thing he said, earlier this week, it's terrible this thing he said, you need to be the president of all americans. for him to try to right that ship and apologize, although he

didn't come out and own it in quite the way i think would be the most forth right way for him to do it, for him to admit this isn't the right thing to be saying and you have to want to be the president of all americans, i think, you know, you got to let him have that. on the other hand, you look back at that fund-raiser, you know, one of two things was true. either he was expressing a repugnant view or he had the view he claims to have now, which is that he wants to help the 100% and all he was doing was toadying up -- >> how are you going to know? john, buddy, you're writing a book and you have to figure out which is which by the time you file the book. >> i promise by fall of 2013, we will have that nailed down. >> but the voter has to decide between now and november who is the real mitt romney. the gas bag down there with the bunch of right wingers or this more pen tent guy before the la t tee know audience saying i won't throw anybody out. >> you cannot talk about how the president has carved up the

country and the pie is sliced every which way when you are the one holding the knife. this is a guy that has been taking a message and tailoring it to every part of the republican base where he can score points, and guess what? there are less than 50 days left. this is fundamentally mitt romney's problem as far as i'm concerned. early voting has standard rted. the clock has already started running. he has very little time -- >> have you noticed all these senators. we start the show with this, all these senate candidates, mcmahon, who has a very good chance in connecticut, dean in nevada. these are going to be close elections. count me as one of those who you don't agree with the man behind the curtain. >> i think you have -- we've talked about this all week, chris. actually starting last week, one of the great fears and one of the concerns the romney campaign has is the notion that, a sense that romney is headed towards

defeat will sink in broadly within the republican political class and it will become an every man for himself moment and a lot of republicans who are up for re-election, especially in tough states, will start to do exactly what some of these candidates you're pointing to are doing. that is shades of bob dole 1996. we're not there yet, but you're starting to see some signs of it in scott brown and in linda mcmahon and some of the other examples. it can be a very ugly scene for a republican or a democratic presidential candidate when his party abandons him. this just points to exactly how toxic this political language is. it's politically just horrible. there's going to be very few republicans anywhere who will want to stand up and say, yeah, i'm with mitt romney on this 47%. >> is that the next question? will they stand up on the platform when he shows up in the state? >> that's the question. a lot of republicans are watching those polls very closely today and will be through the first debate. >> well, let's take a look at some of the states now. we've got them here. the fox news polls that have

come out now, these are great states. last night three new polls from fox news reiterated the romney deficits in florida. romney is down 5 points, that's a key state for him. ohio obama has a seven-point advantage. in virginia obama also has a seven-point advantage. alex, i don't think these will hold. i think this election will wobble between now and november. but you got to wonder what romney is thinking. there's a lot of pressure from the right on him to fire stu stevens. i read in "the wall street journal" today, the question is will he buckle and basically eat it? fire his best guy under the pressure from the right? will he do something like that? >> well, anecdotally we know mitt is a sticker according to politico. he stays with them. i don't know that you will see stu stev out before november. it's like an iceberg melting.

it down ballot candidates are abandoning romney it leaves to a further shift in terms of getting away from mitt. he had a fund-raiser today where he's trying to reassure donors, i can still get this, still pull this one out. if he starts losing support from his own party and from the money donating base, he has a serious, serious problem in the next two weeks. >> what about any shake-up coming, john you're the expert, before we quit this segment, i wonder whether he's going to melt down physically by getting rid of his top guy because everybody seems to blame the staff and not the candidate. >> i think that's the biggest mistake in all this punditry. in the end mitt romney is everything in the campaign. it's not a partisan statement. complains reflect the candidate. ultimately the candidate, win or lose, has to bear the responsibility for their campaign. i don't think mitt romney will dump stuart stevens and i don't think he's to blame. it rests on mitt romney's shoulders. >> do you know what i noticed on politicians, their staff begin to dress like them, eat like them -- >> it's like dogs.

>> like dogs, exactly right. i was a staffer. don't say that. jau, john heilemanheilemann. >> alex, thank you, alex wagner. have a nice weekend when you get to it friday night. coming up, are mitt romney's troubles contagious? remember how the gop once thought winning the senate was a given? think again. a rash of new polls show democrats could very well hold on to the senate. what an upset and one of the best guys running for re-election is john tesser in montana. also block the vote. in one sentence the government sponsor of that restrictive law managed to defend the indefensible. daryl metcalf said 47% of people are living off their neighbor's hard work and many are too lazy to get the new i.d. card and it's too bad if they don't vote. he's saying to romney you were right when you were in the back room, that 47% is exactly true,

too lazy to work, too lazy to get their i.d. cards. the dirty angry money is out. it turns out the romney campaign doesn't have as much as we thought. it may well be because they've got too many big donors and not enough small donors and they're relying too much on the outside groups to get this election and to get on the air even. finally, a link up between the move to kill black votes and ignite white anger. it just happened in pennsylvania. just mentioned it. this is "hardball," the place for politics. yeah. then how'd i get this... [ voice of dennis ] ...safe driving bonus check? every six months without an accident, allstate sends a check. ok. [ voice of dennis ] silence. are you in good hands? to meet the needs of my growing business.

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talking a lot more about how his ideas will help regular americans who remain deeply suspicious of him. that's a quote. there it is. more mitt. we'll be right back. in america today we're running out of a vital resource we need to compete on the global stage. what we need are people prepared for the careers of our new economy. by 2025 we could have 20 million jobs without enough college graduates to fill them. that's why at devry university, we're teaming up with companies like cisco to help make sure everyone's ready with the know how we need for a new tomorrow. [ male announcer ] make sure america's ready. make sure you're ready. at devry.edu/knowhow. ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] introducing a stunning work of technology. introducing the entirely new lexus es.

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welcome back to "hardball." could mitt romney's recent struggling be affecting republicans chances of taking the senate. romney's slipping candidacy has been followed by a slew of recent polls giving the elements hope of holding onto a majority. in wisconsin democrat tammy baldwin is up over tommy thompson a former governor. 50% to 41%. in virginia "washington post" poll today showed former gov tim kaine over george allen, 51%, 43%. and up in massachusetts elizabeth warren is coming on strong leading in four of five recent polls. she's up by five in the recent wbur mass inc. poll, 47%, 42%. sam stein covers politics for

"the huffington post." what do you make of these numbers we're getting that show definite strength in races we were seeing neck to neck. it looks like democrats are pulling ahead. >> the trend is pretty obvious. you're starting to see a reflex of that in the polls. one thing that's clear after the convention is the country by and large is buying into the fact that the economy wasn't as bad as republicans said it was. obama is doing as good if not better than mitt romney on the she of the economy. i think the country is looking at the democrat party and saying their platform is where we want to move the economy forward. the republicans had two years control of the house. we don't like what they did. maybe we should try something new. >> i wonder whether it was bill clinton's wonderful -- it wasn't just a rousing speech with a lot of applause lines, but it was the educational factor where he

talked about what the president was stuck with back in '09. what he's been trying to do, and how it's working, if slowly, how it's working. he was the first one i thought to give people reason for even he be ewe lens. people have been very happy i'm around ever since they heard bill clinton talk. >> i'm hesitant to use the great man theory in politics. bill clinton more than any other democrat actually laid a succinct understandable argument for why the stimulus was a success. you have seen it sort of after the convention in the ads obama has run. mitt romney keeps talking down the economy. let's look at the statistics about where we were four years ago and compared to where we are now. and they've laid a cohesive argument that the country is moving generally in the right direction, not fast enough, not there yet, but they've made concrete steps to move it in that direction. i think the country by and large is starting to buy it. >> let's take a look at the states that have become contests that many people thought were basically going to be -- not going to be looking good for the democrats. they weren't expected to be in play. linda mcmahon is proving to be a

formidable opponent to chris murphy, the democrat, up in connecticut. that's for joe lieberman's old seat. in indiana joe donnelly is keeping up with richard mourdock. up in maine an interthree-way. ang grus king, an independent, jumped in the race with olympia snowe announced she was going to retire. he's facing a challenge from summers. cynthia dill trails well behind. i'm betting on king up there. let's talk about in fascinating race in indiana where the notre dame guy joe donnelly is running. normally indiana it's is a killer state for democrats. what do you think of that race? >> it gets to another point which we haven't discussed which is that in some of these key states republicans didn't get the candidate they wanted. indiana is one of them. obviously todd akin in missouri is another. olympia snowe retiring is another.

republicans wanted a candidate and didn't get him or her. you're seeing republicans pay a price for it. the betting money is that mourdock will prevail but it's much closer. in maine angus king is suffering because e promised not to caucus with either party. a lot of democrats are worried to support -- >> you won't get any assignments if you don't caucus. you sit there and do nothing. >> he's saying i'm going to go up there and do powerless, vote for me. >> he's got to change that. >> and in connecticut one last thing, linda mcmahon ran two years ago, she has statewide i.d., obviously a lot of money. chris murphy remains relatively unknown in the state but you have to look at the demographics of connecticut and place money on chris murphy because there's so many more democrats in the state. >> i hope you're wrong in a couple of these cases. i think murphy might well win. i think mcmahon might well win.

i'm hoping donlly wins. let's bring in democrat from the tossup state of montana. senator jon tester is fighting for re-election against denny rayburg. the ap reported it may come down to who is more montana. senator tester, welcome. you always struck me as the most montana guy on the planet. i don't know why this is an issue, sir. >> i don't know either but i can tell you we've got a close race going. it's going to be close at the end. we knew that since the very beginning, but it's all about what kind of person i am versus my opponent, what kind of records we have, and what the our vision is for the future not only the great state of montana but the country. but it's going to be -- it's been an interesting race. it's going to continue to be an interesting race. i feel good about my chances. >> okay. we have a new poll from montana in the "hardball" scoreboard right now. it's from ppp and you're leading denny ray burg 43 to 45.

i guess that adds up. there's four left. not a lot of undecides up there in montana. >> not really. this race has been -- it's been going on for 18 months. we have seen incredible amounts of secret out of state money coming in trying to buy montanans. as we've talked before, chris, the whole citizens united thing is really i think a threat to our democracy and we've got the secret money coming in trying to buy votes. they're spending about right now about $1 million a week in montana on tv ads. i can tell you that montana was here, it was here back in 1912. montanans can't be bought and they won't be bought in this election either, and so hopefully it comes down to who we are as people and what we've done and our records as we've served in congress. me for the last six years, the congressman for his record for the last 12. >> why is karl rove gunning for you? >> you know, i don't know. i really don't have any idea.

i have never visited with the man, but obviously their pumping more money into this state than has ever been pumped before into montana, and they're trying to make me into something i'm not, chris, quite frankly. they know they cannot beat the jon tester who is the farmer from big sandy, montana, but if they make me into something i'm not, then they've got a chance. >> but you're back on your tractor every week, you're doing the job you had before you got this one. how does a guy from out of state without a hunting license -- why don't you check on karl and see if he had a hunting license. i had one last year with my daughter fishing in the madison river out there. but do people buy that? do any know he's out there gunning for you? do they know karl rove -- he's not exactly a popular guy. do they know a villainous guy like that is involved in your state politics? >> karl rove is pumping the

money into the state. i don't think he cares about montana. i think he's got a whole different agenda. doesn't care about the middle class, doesn't care about working families, small businesses, kids getting a good education. he's got his own agenda, and i think it's unfortunate. that's why citizens united is such a threat. it's not good for democrats, not good for republicans, it's not good for our democracy. >> i don't think the architect as he called himself is good for anything. thank you senator jon tester of montana, good luck. up next, republicans talk about freedom, but why were coal miners in ohio forced to attend, forced to attend a mitt romney rally and not even paid for showing up? this is "hardball," the place for politics.

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among ohio voters. specifically, coal miners. the ad is grabbing attention but not the good kind. here is a look. >> obama is ruining the coal industry. >> policies of the current administration has got is attacking my livelihood. >> we have 250 years of coal. why wouldn't we use it? utility bills are up. people wonder how they're going to have a brighter future if they can't see how they're going to make it to the end of the next month. >> as it turns out, that crowd of coal miners standing behind the candidate in that ad did not attend that ohio rally by choice. some of those employees contacted a west virginia radio station to say that not only were they required to attend last month's rally, but they were also not paid during the time they were there. a top official with the company offered this explanation for what had happened. quote, attendance was mandatory but no one was forced to attend the event. mandatory but no one was forced. well, the owner of the mine where the rally took place happens to be, big surprise, a

romney supporter and has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to republican candidates. next, documentary filmmaker ken burns takes on teddy roosevelt kind of. you may have heard of the presidential race that takes place at the home baseball games. all from mt. rushmore hold a race during every game. the hero of san juan hill, the winner of the nobel peace price teddy roosevelt has yet to finish first in any of the races. well, here is ken burns and teddy's high profile supporter in the senate. >> appropriately george washington won the first presidents race on july 21st, 2006. by the end of that series, tom and abe had also tasted victory. teddy, meanwhile, had already suffered a pulled hamstring and been disqualified for illegal use of a golf cart. there were hopes the streak might die on teddy roosevelt bobble head night.

it did not. >> i'm often consoled in times after i see my beloved t.r. finish last, i'm reminded of his immortal words, credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood. his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat. go teddy. >> good for john mccain. he's a real teddy guy. also secretary of state hillary clinton spoke at a ceremony in washington yesterday honoring burmese opposition leader aung san suu kyi. clinton recalled a conversation with the burmese official where newly elected officials turned to learn about democratic government. >> speaker of the lower house where suu kyi now serves said to me help us learn how to be a democratic congress, a

parliament. he went on to tell me that they were trying to teach themselves by watching old segments of "the west wing." i said, i think we can do better than that, mr. speaker. >> well, that will be the day when the real thing is better than "west wing." that's the way it is tonight. up next, the sponsor of pennsylvania's voter i.d. law just outed mitt romney. daryl metcalf says 47% of pennsylvanians are just living off the other half's hard work and they're too lazy not only to work but to get that new i.d. card they need to vote. my guess is he's talking about republicans. just kidding. you're watching "hardball," the place for politics. e of bp made a commitment to the gulf. and every day since, we've worked hard to keep it. bp has paid over twenty-three billion dollars to help people and businesses who were affected, and to cover cleanup costs. today, the beaches and gulf are open for everyone to enjoy --

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your cnbc market wrap. the dow closes up 19 after a 75-point slide. the s&p ends down a fraction. the nasdaq is off 6 points. on the economic front, jobless claims fell by just 3,000 in the latest week. the four-week moving average rose for a fifth straight week. shares of bed, bath, and beyond slid nearly 10% after its profits missed expectations. and after the bell, oracle's earning came in line with estimates. shares have been mostly lower in after hours trading. that's it for cnbc, first in business worldwide. now back to "hardball." welcome back to "hardball." the pennsylvania state senator who was the author of the stit's restrictive voter photo i.d. act has managed to extend mitt romney's disparaging comments that 47% of americans are freeloaders into a whole new realm, the voter i.d. fight.

according to daryl metcalf, he's the lawmaker, the people who don't have photo i.d.s and therefore can't vote are just like those 47% of moochers, their quote in his words, too lazy to follow the newly imposed i.d. requirements. listen to him in action. >> i don't believe any legitimate voter that actually wants to exercise that right and takes on the according responsibility that goes with that right to secure their photo i.d. will be disinfranchised. as mitt romney said, what, we have 40-some percent of the people that are living off the public dole, living off of their neighbor's hard work, and we have a lot of people out there that are too lazy to get off -- get up and get out there and get the i.d. they need. so i mean if individuals are too lazy, the state can't fix that, but the process is put in place to get an i.d. card. there's a free i.d. available if somebody needs one. there's a process they have to go through. they have to present certain documents. that's the way it should be. >> is somebody passing around

the truth serum? this is the way romney is talking. they're talking like they think. anyway, we invited that man, represent daryl metcalfe to appear on "hardball" but he declined. joining me is the chair of the pennsylvania democratic party and ron reagan, author of "the my father the 100." are you used to guys talking this openly about people being lazy? what a generalization. the people who are retired, the people who are on disability, the people who are whatever, still paying payroll tax, guys serving and women serving in the military. how does he come up with. 47% and read it like it's scripture and they're a bunch of bums and can't get their i.d. cards? >> it shows how far, chris, the republican party has fallen, not just in pennsylvania, but nationally. first governor romney and now mr. metcalfe who authored the legislation which says the government has an obligation through liberal con strux of this statute to get i.d. to pennsylvanians who don't have

them. now here is the author saying these folks are lazy and the government has to do nothing. now we have matching book ends. mike at the beginning saying this is about tilting the playing field for mitt romney and now the author of the legislation calling 47% of pennsylvanians lazy. they've helped us as much in this state to raise awareness as we have done ourselves. >> we are focused on making sure that we meet our obligations that we've talked about for years, pro second amendment, the castle doctrine is done. first pro life legislation, abortion facility regulations in 22 years, done. voter i.d. which is going to allow governor romney to win the state of pennsylvania, done. >> ron reagan, sir, i grew up in pennsylvania with people like, you know, tom ridge and bill scranton and hugh scott.

they wouldn't be talking like this. the republican party has been replaced by the tea party and they talk tea party like this. these bums, you know. they're all bums and too stupid to get an i.d. card, too lazy. this is the way guys talk at bars after 5:30 after five or six, not guys who should be running the country. your thoughts? >> but in their view these people are too lazy to vote, too lazy to govern. they have no place in our democratic system and i want to remind you this is not an entirely new republican idea. they've ratcheted up their vote suppression efforts for this election cycle. way back in the 1980s, i believe it was, paul wayrick, one of the architects of modern conservatism speaking before an audience much like mitt romney's audience back in may, rich, white republicans, said very succinctly that an expanded voter base is not in republicans' best interests. they need fewer people going to the polls, and that's what they've been trying to do here. this is the one wildcard left

really in the election, the known wildcard at least left in the election. how effective are the vote suppression efforts going to be in places like ohio, for instance? >> well, we'll see. the ordeal for a voter actually going without an i.d. card to get one to be able to get have been called lazy. ann described what it took for a 54-year-old woman who has been voting since she was 19 to go get newly required i.d. cards. let's watch. >> first she had to fill out a form that is a request for a n nondriver's license. then you take it to a clerk who says tough a social security card, two forms of address. you say no. you have to fill out this other form. then they call the board of elections. they call the board of elections. they can't check it in the database online even though you can check your registration online. they call on the telephone, they

wait. then she gets to affirm she has no other way of getting the i.d., and they finally let her sign, check her pay stub to see she's got an address, has her picture taken. she e murges finally four hours later. >> she's a custodian at philadelphia hospital. she had to use a vacation guy to get the i.d. card. it's great to be from pennsylvania which we never had jim crow. we never had this stuff but we grew up reading about how if you were black you go to a voting station and you'd be told this is a book you had to read in greek or latin, all the tricks in the world to keep you from voting and here we have our state on the northern side of the civil war engaging in in jim crow crap. what do you feel about it? >> absolutely. this is stuff you and i read growing up in pennsylvania with a horrific results and the consequences. there have never once expecting that at this time in our nation's history we would be seeing that in any state, yet

alone in a northern state. but, my gosh, here we are with this unreal piece of legislation. chris, the supreme court this week sent that law, which was challenged, back down to the commonwealth court with specific instructio instructions. the government could not articulate in front of the supreme court how they with any specificity would be able to comply with the requirement that those without i.d. could get it. the story you just shared with your viewers is the type of story we're looking for to take to the commonwealth court next week. the government could not articulate to the supreme court this week how they were able to do it. i don't see how next week with that type of evidence coming in that they're going to be able to be effective in front of the commonwealth. we still have it work hard which we're doing to make sure every voter who needs identification will have it by november 6th. >> i'd just like to try to get my birth certificate from south carolina if i came up to get away from jim crow in the '50s. i'm living in philadelphia and they say go back to south carolina and get your birth certificate. last word, ron. >> i think there's an

opportunity for democrats. they can say to the republicans, look, i will see your bogus voter fraud issue and your voter i.d. but i will raise you this, by the next presidential election, every eligible voter in america is registered to vote and has a voter i.d. we will make it impossible not to register to vote. everywhere you go, schools, hospitals, dmvs, you will be given an opportunity to register to vote and you will get a voter i.d. right there and then. what do you think the republicans would think about that? >> i don't think they're going to like that idea of universal suffrage. they don't like that. they like a little elitism there occasionally. thank you. good luck with your cause. it's a gud good one for this country's democracy. up next, dirty angry money. it turns out the romney campaign doesn't have as much of it as they led us to believe. apparently living you a just the fat cats isn't a lucrative way to get ready for the fall believe it or not. you have to have small donors. we'll talk about that when we come back. this is "hardball," the place for politics.

well, the man who wouldn't throw a punch at mitt romney will no longer be throwing punches for him. tim pawlenty has resigned as co-chair of the com campaign. he's headed to washington to be a top lobbyist for wall street. he famously wouldn't go on the attack in the debate last summer and his campaign never really took off. we'll be right back. [ female announcer ] ordinary lotions aren't made to treat eczema,

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they'redirty, angry money report. for months, we've heard chest-thumping reports from the romney campaign about how much money they've raised. for each of the last three months, the romney campaign reported over $100 million, and these numbers don't include the powerhouse fund-raising from outside groups like those super pacs. but romney's alleged fund raising success have been followed by a mystery. if his campaign is flesh with cash why is he outspending ad buys in crucial swing states when he could use good publicity. it turns out money has been ticketed for republican national committee and state and local elections. in other words, it's not his. it's theirs.

and with me now is "new york times" reporter nick kamusori. and neara tan deny, former policy director for mill re clinton. let me go to nicholas. you're new to the show. tell us why mitt romney who i always identified as having unlimited lds money, unlimited equity money, friends over the business community, wealthy people across the country, why he is having cash problems and had to borrow the money, $20 million? >> because even the richest guy in america can only give $2,500 per election to a candidate. now mitt romney has many, many of those people. lots of rich supporters, people who can max that amount. and he got most at the primary and spent a lot to win the primary. and once that was done, he had the last up until september after his convention to tap into the general election money he had raised on top of those checks. so really, he was sort of cash-rich but cash-flow poor for a lot of august. and that helps explain why there were so few romney ads on the

airways. there was money, it just wasn't in his account where he could use it the way he wanted to. >> let's talk about small donors. somebody put me on all of these lists. i don't give a nick, i'm not allowed to because of my profession and working here at msnbc. you want to have dinner with jim ma seeni, valerie jarrett, want to meet this guy, that guy, want to meet the president, take a chance, endless fund raising from small donors. is he better going through the social media than this guy is with the big shots? >> i think what's great about small donors, you can go back at them. as nick was saying, there's a limit with the large donors. and the small donors, the president has a -- >> a lot of people never get near max dollar. >> yeah, and they can keep giving. the difference is, we expect them to increase their giving as the election gets closer, as they see -- get more excited, et cetera. so the president is likely to have more money come in the last couple of months, and that's a big problem for romney, which he seems to be having a squeeze, and now that he has a bump in

the road or a few bumps in the road or many bumps in the road, that fund-raising could be a big problem. >> what about a danger if you're an obama guy or woman worrying about the cavalry attacking the last weekend? for example, with all of that super pac money out there, the koch brothers and the rest of them, can they attack on the last friday weekend, get the bad economic number perhaps and three days over the last weekend pouring money into ads they have already bought with new messages? what's to stop that onslaught from outside the romney campaign? >> well, it can certainly happen and it will happen. there is going to be a lot of advertising on the airwaves this year and this fall, probably more than ever before. but we're about to find out how much is enough, how much is too much and how much doesn't matter. we're going to see a glut of this stuff. and a real question is, and it will be an obstacle to whichever side is outgunned. the real question is going to be, how much can people really absorb when you have unlimited money effectively, and how much ad time actually fits on to the

airwaves, price will keep going up as the super pacs and campaigns bid it up. but there is a limit here as we'll see. >> president obama is buying air time in ohio, colorado and new hampshire. outspending romney in each of these states. that's where we started. let's finish with that. nira, obama, the poor guy in this race. we've all heard that. he's spending more money on ads in the states that matter, therefore getting his numbers up. >> what nick story points out, they just don't -- romney has taken a gamble. he put out these large numbers, and he doesn't have the money right now to really match. and so the challenge for them, i think, is to match one-to-one. >> poor little rich kid. thank you, good story. when we return, let me finish with a link we just saw between the move by republicans to keep minorities from voting while at the same time igniting white anger against them. the sick combination of stopping blacks from voting and getting whites to vote out of racial

anger. we'll talk about it in the place for politics right now. [ female announcer ] they can be enlightening. hey, bro. or engaging. conversations help us learn and grow. at wells fargo, we believe you can never underestimate the power of a conversation. it's this exchange of ideas that helps you move ahead with confidence. so when the conversation turns to your financial goals... turn to us. if you need anything else, let me know. [ female announcer ] wells fargo. together we'll go far.

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thanks, chris. and thanks to you for tuning in. tonight's lead. 100% bogus. today more republicans are running from romney. the romney campaign is in full panic mode, trying to save the sinking ship. but he has a new strategy. for three days since the secret tape was revealed, mr. romney has been on damage control. he's trying to put his spin on the secret tape. he's trying to see what he can say after getting caught saying 47% of americans are freeloading off the government. he